ATSDR - Carpenter-Snow Creek Health Assessment in Montana

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ATSDR MEDIA ANNOUNCEMENT

ATSDR ExtendsPublic Comment Period for Carpenter-Snow Creek
Health Assessment in Montana

Site Classified as a Public Health Hazard

For Immediate Release: Oct. 21, 2003

ATLANTA - The Agency for Toxic Substances and Disease Registry (ATSDR), a public health agency of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, has extended the public comment period for the public health assessment on the Carpenter-Snow Creek Mining District site in Neihart, Mont. The site is on the Superfund National Priorities List.

The public comment period has been extended to Nov. 7 in order to allow additional time for community members to review and comment on the public health assessment.

Discharges of heavy metals from mining and processing operations are present at the site. ATSDR has classified the site as a public health hazard because of the possible adverse health effects of exposure to lead in soil at Neihart.

ATSDR's conclusions and recommendations are included in the assessment, which is available for review and comment at these repositories in Montana:

Neihart Post Office
108 North Main St.
Neihart

Belt Ranger Station
4234 Highway 89
Neihart

Great Falls Public Library
301 2nd Ave. North
Great Falls

Monarch Post Office
Monarch

ATSDR welcomes comments from members of the community. Comments on the public health assessment must be made in writing. Mail comments to

Chief, Program Evaluation, Records and Information Services Branch
ATSDR
1600 Clifton Road, NE (MS E-60)
Atlanta, GA 30333

Comments received during the public comment period will be logged in to ATSDR's administrative record for the public health assessment. Comments received, without the names of individuals who submitted them, and ATSDR's responses to the comments will appear in an appendix to the final document. Names of those who submit comments, however, will be subject to release to requests made under the U.S. Freedom of Information Act.

Community members seeking information on the public health assessment can contact environmental health scientists John Crellin or Teresa Foster or Community Involvement Specialist Youlanda Outin toll free, at 1-888-422-8737. Regional Representative Dan Strausbaugh also may be contacted at 406-457-5007. Callers should refer to the Carpenter-Snow Creek Mining District site in Neihart, Mont.

ATSDR, a federal public health agency of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, evaluates the human health effects of exposure to hazardous substances. Established by Congress in 1980 under the Superfund law, ATSDR conducts public health assessments at each of the sites on the EPA National Priorities List, as well as other sites when petitioned. Headquartered in Atlanta, ATSDR is staffed by more than 400 health professionals including epidemiologists, physicians, toxicologists, engineers and public health educators.

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Members of the news media may request an interview with ATSDR staff by calling Elaine McEachern or Jennifer Sarginson in the ATSDR Office of Policy and External Affairs at 770-488-0700.

Back to ATSDR Home page

Updated by R. Searfoss October 21, 2003
For more information, contact ATSDR at:
770-488-0700 or e-mail (news media)